h+ magazene has an interesting article about Lady Gaga as a model for the “post human” next step.

Gaga may be the first version of a human being we have seen capable of thriving in the era of the social web. She is shiny, clickable, and malleable in the face of endless attention fragmentation. She is an adaptive strategy. Without any solid or “real” self, her identity becomes whatever it needs to be, immune to the toxic shock of the incoming century, fully geared up to party in the ruins. Is it any wonder that she’s provoked the response she has, both adulation and hatred? She’s the first non-boring thing to happen in pop music for almost fifteen years.

I’ll agree she is certainly “non-borning” and I do like the visuals she presents; no I’m not talking about the half nakedness. It reminds me a lot of what I’ve seen in Second Life and the way out outfits people wear and the worlds they create in the virtual, except she is doing it in RL (real life), kind of. Yes it’s a music video and not “real”. I got the cultural references for Thelma & Louise and Kill Bill , I’m not sure if there was a Cell Block Tango reference. Even so, after reading h+ analysis I do think the video makes a bit more sense.

Do check out her video.

After that also take a look at Pomplamoose for a different kind of surreal. Nataly Dawn has a self awareness of appearance and presentation that no less impressive then that of Lady Gaga. I don’t know for sure but Jack Conte likely does most of the music production and layering. Again this is no less impressive that any other modern music work. Their work is just as much about transforming current media and cultural references as that of Lady Gaga.